


Holding Out for a Hero

by Sales Associate Steve (Stiney)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Avenging a loved one's death, Awkwardness, Canon Temporary Character Death, Engineer Dean, Fluff, M/M, Meet the Family, Schmoop, Superhero Castiel, Taking up the mantle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 00:11:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6098479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stiney/pseuds/Sales%20Associate%20Steve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of snapshots from the life of Dean Winchester and his superhero <em>totally not</em> boyfriend, Castiel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Larger than Life

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not even sorry that the title is from Bonnie Tyler's [Holding Out For a Hero](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWcASV2sey0). ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Dean Winchester _was not_ a damsel in distress.

Even if he was currently ten feet above the bus that nearly made him a grease stain on the corner of Fifth and Lincoln; held by a guy with a serious case of bedhead, and friggin’ _wings_.

Huge, dark wings that billowed out of the back of his tan trench coat.

Seriously? What kind of superhero wore a damned creeper coat?

"Are you alright?" Feathers asked, intense blue stare and gravelly voice making Dean aware of just how tight he was holding onto khaki fabric.

A loud rustle and a sudden drop stole Dean’s response and before he could even think splat, his feet touched solid ground.

Which he was really friggin’ thankful for as he hurriedly extracted himself from his rescuer’s grip.

“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks, man.” Nice, quick and _definitely_ undamselly.

"I caught your package as well." The winged stranger offered.

"You caught… _what_?" No sooner had the words left Dean's mouth in a confused tumble, then a familiar and mint condition bakery box containing the apple pie from Benny’s that he’d been waiting all week for was suddenly being held out to him.

The sight of which had Dean clapping the other man on the shoulder with a laugh.

"Dude! _My hero!_ "


	2. Dean Winchester does not have a superhero boyfriend... except he totally does.

_"…healed my baby…"_

***click***

_"…rescued from the fire…"_

***click***

_"…and he saved my guinea pig, too!"_

“Wow, your angel’s all over TV lately.” 

"What? Who? He’s…Not my…" Dean spluttered, remote dropping to the carpet as he whipped around to point an accusing finger at the smug face of his brother.

" _One_ , dude’s not my anything. Jesus, Sammy, grow up. And two, he’s not an angel. Even with the friggin’..." Dean waved his hands in a feeble wings gesture. "There’s no such thing."

"Yeah, ok." Sam replied before heading toward the kitchen.

"Don’t yeah, ok, me." Dean shouted at his brother’s retreating form.

"Yeah, _ok,_ Dean."

*****

***Thump***

"Shit." Dean most certainly _did not_ yelp as the commotion from outside caused the needle to scratch across his favorite _Bad Company_ record.  

***Bang***

"What the Hell?" Jumping off his bed he hurried over to throw open his window and was immediately met with familiar blue eyes and wings so large they blocked what little moonlight made it onto the balcony.

"Hello, Dean."

"Dude, you're late." He grumbled while climbing out onto the narrow terrace.

"My apologies." Castiel offered as Dean fully righted himself and closed the window. "I would have been here sooner but I was stuck... _in an interview._ "

"An interview? Ouch. Yeah, sorry buddy. That kinda stuff comes with the territory." Dean's laugh cut short when the expression on Castiel's face became sour.

"I don't like the "territory". Castiel punctuated his frustration with air quotes that any other time Dean would have called out for their complete dorkiness. "I just want to help people."

"You do." Dean assured. "Dude, I saw you on like fifty channel today. You're out there saving folks and friggin' hamsters..."

"It was a guinea pig." Castiel corrected as Dean stepped closer, removing nearly all the space between them.

"Ok. Whatever. Point is, they're interested _because_ of what you're doing. Hell, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be standing here right now. And even though I'm freezing my ass off on this friggin' balcony, I guess you could say I'm a big fan of your work, myself." Dean said before pulling Castiel into a kiss.


	3. We don't need no pants...

It’s not that Sam wasn’t used to people wandering around the apartment in some article of Dean’s clothes or another.

He’d on more than one occasion bumped into Lisa, clad in one of Dean’s t shirt _(and rarely much else)_ while trying to get to the bathroom some mornings.

Or Aaron, who shuffled around the kitchen in too long pajama pants while making obscene amounts of bacon for breakfast, whenever he used to stay over.

It’s just…this time was _different_.

Mainly because the guy grumpily staring down the coffee pot had huge wings that took up most of the space in the Winchester’s tiny galley kitchen. Giant, dark wings that rivaled the ones of the angel plastered all over the Led Zeppelin boxer shorts he was currently wearing.

"Ummm." Sam said weakly when his brain failed to supply anything better.

The unexpected noise in the early morning quiet had the other man whipping around, eyes wide and wings ruffling in surprise. The sudden movement causing the coffee pot to tip onto the floor with a shatter of glass and splatter of liquid.

"Shit. Shit. Sorry!" Sam offered while scrambling to pull the broom out from beside the fridge.

#####

A loud crash jarred Dean out of sleep and had him grabbing the nearest article of clothes as he stumbled out of the room and toward the noise.

"Cas! What the hell are…" Dean pulled up short upon noticing his missing bedmate standing in the kitchen’s entry while his brother’s gigantor stature popped up from behind the breakfast bar.

"What…I thought you were supposed…what the fuck is wrong with this goddammed thing!?" Dean growled as he struggled with the shirt he belatedly realized was Castiel’s as his arm slipped through a hole made for wings.

His loud expletive filled entrance had both men’s attention snapping to him.

"Morning, Dean."

"Oh my God, Dean, put on some pants!"

"You’re not even supposed to be here, Sammy!  I thought you were at Sarah’s." Dean countered, groaning in relief when the shirt was righted. " _Finally_ , fuck.”

"She had a client that wanted to meet early at the gallery so I came home." Sam said, hand clasped tight over his eyes.

"You can put your hand down dumbass. Your delicate eyes are safe." Dean huffed and tried not to smile too wide when Castiel’s right wing stretched out, covering his lower half, feathers skimming over his thigh in the process.

It wasn’t until his brother actually moved his hand, that Dean realized the levity of the situation.

He was standing half naked in front of Sam and Castiel.

Castiel, who Dean hadn’t told his brother about. Well, at least not _this_.

_Shit._

_“_ I accidentally broke the coffee pot.” Castiel explained, cutting through the awkward silence as he met Dean’s gaze. “I’ll replace it, of course.”

"It’s fine." Dean returned Castiel’s small, flustered smile with a sleepy one of his own.

**_*Hrrrhmm*_ **

Sam’s loud throat clearing brought Dean back to the pressing matter at hand.

"Alright, Dammit." Dean sighed, waving a hand between the two men. "Cas, this is my overgrown little brother, Sam. Sammy this is…"

"Cas. Yeah, Dean I already introduced myself to your _boyfriend_ while I was helping him clean up." Sam said with an eye roll in his brother's direction before continuing. "Now if you don’t mind I’m gonna head to Trickster’s for coffee. Please, _please_ have some pants on by the time I get back.” 


	4. Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s where the snapshots take a drastic turn for the heavy angst, my friends.  
> And as such, this chapter includes an AU take on a major canon **temporary** death. Also a brief mention of suicidal thoughts.

Dean came back to consciousness with the gritty, smoke-laden taste of ash in his mouth and the heat from what could only be a too close fire causing his cheeks to burn red with flush and his skin to break out in a thick sheen a sweat.

There was also the poncy and extremely grating sound of Crowley’s voice to his right. Rambling on like the stereotypical, super-villain dickhead that he was. Though, his attention and words weren’t directed toward Dean.

“Glad you could make it, little bird. Lately I’ve become concerned about your dedication to our cause. Which is why I went out of my way to acquire the _perfect_ incentive to guarantee you follow this through to the end.” Fingers tugged at Dean’s damp hair and pain shot through his scalp as Crowley wrenched his head up. “One that would also provide me with insurance, in the event you attempted something even _more_ foolish than backing out of our deal.”

_Our deal._

The phrase had Dean’s eyes snapping wide with panic. He started rapidly blinking and willed his sight to adjust so he could get a better look at his hazy surroundings. He concentrated on the vast open space of the warehouse that, at the moment, was nothing more than blurry shapes and the exaggerated shadows cast by the ring of fire that encircled where he was seated and assured his captivity even more than the chair that Crowley had him firmly tied to.

With his vision steadying, Dean was able to a make out a form standing directly in front of him, just on the other side of the flames.

As the person’s features swam into clear focus, Dean was immediately hit with recognition that had the air punching out of his lungs in a gasping wheeze while his stomach dropped in disbelief.

_Cas._

“Let him go, _now_.” Castiel ordered; his rough voice thundering through the rafters as he countered Crowley’s triumphant smirk with a dangerous glare.

Even though Dean had personally been on the receiving end of Castiel’s superhero rescues, he’d never actually witnessed this level of _sheer force_ before.

Power roiled off Castiel in awe-inspiring waves as his wings flared out to their full span behind him. A giant, dark mass that rippled with the same intense energy that surrounded the rest of his body.

Dean’s base instincts warned of _danger_. That he should be afraid of this terrible being that stood before him.

But the logical part of his brain, _thankfully,_ jumped to the forefront and took over, erasing any inkling of doubt.

_This was Cas.  
_

Cas, who grumpily stared at the coffee pot in the kitchen every morning while sporting the world’s wildest bedhead.

Cas, who just last week had been unable to pick between the gaggle of guinea pigs at the pet store and ended up spending hours cuddling each of them in turn, until a favorite _finally_ emerged for him to happily bring home as his own.

Cas, who, without fail, kept Dean draped in the warmth and safety of his soft wings, every night as they slept.

_Cas, who saved and changed Dean’s life in more ways than he could even count._

“That’s just not possible, darling.” Crowley apologetically clucked in a voice that slithered with insincerity.

“I wasn’t giving you an option.” Castiel warned; spine straightening as his wings snapped with agitation and sent wind gusting against the quickly growing, fiery divide.

“Your preening doesn’t scare me, Castiel. Now how about we put all of this nonsense aside and resume our previous business discussions?” Without waiting for an answer, Crowley turned from Castiel and honed his attention, instead, on the bound and seated man beside him.

He yanked Dean’s head back until their eyes met, then continued with his false concerns. “I’m guessing by your shocked expression that your feathered lover failed to mention the arrangement he’d made with me. What a pity.”

“Dean!” Castiel shouted while stepping closer to the flames that stood as a widening barrier between them.

“Not another move, Castiel or I’ll snap your boy-toy’s neck before you can even think to flap your way across to save him.” To prove his point, Crowley hooked fingers under Dean’s chin and sharply wrenched him into an impossible angle that had him crying out in tear-inducing pain.

“Dean has no part in this, Crowley. Set him free and we’ll go forward with the plan to defeat Leviathan.” Castiel asked again even as his shoulders slumped in a sign of accepted failure.

The action had Crowley relaxing his agonizing hold on Dean as he became too involved in puffing up in response to his apparent victory over Castiel.

Dean quickly jumped at the opening and used it as a chance to get through to Castiel. His mind was a whirling, panicked mess of questions. But he needed to know why in the hell Castiel would join up with a shit stain like Crowley. Even if it meant possibly taking out the bigger and more dangerous threat of the Leviathan Organization.

Dean jerked his head fully from Crowley’s lax grasp and tried to latch onto Castiel’s adverted gaze. “Are you really working with _this_ asshole to take down Leviathan, Cas?”

The insult earned Dean a rattling knock against the side of his skull but the momentary disorientation was worth it as Castiel finally met his eye.

“Dean, I had no choice. Leviathan threatened to destroy and devour everything in this city. And that included _you_. It was a risk I couldn’t take. You’re too important to me.” His own words seemed to reassure Castiel and defeat disappeared as he steadily held Dean’s gaze.

Dean’s heart thumped wildly in his chest at the profound admission.

The two of them could fix this. **_They would._**

“Such a _beautiful_ confession of love, Castiel. The perfect thing to tug right at the old heart strings.” Crowley interrupted with a disgusted groan of disapproval. “But, seeing as how _I don’t actually have any_...”

Dean once again, felt the clawing skitter of Crowley’s fingers at his scalp. Tearing at the roots of his hair as he was violently snatched back and his chair tipped precariously onto two legs.

Crowley's scrambling attempt to gain a more solid hold was brought to a premature end by the long silver blade that whizzed passed Dean’s face and embedded itself deep into Crowley’s right shoulder.

Crowley lost his grip completely and Dean’s chair slammed down onto the floor as the villain screamed in shocked anguish behind him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dean saw Crowley stumble toward the fire that had gone from simply encircling them to angrily engulfing everything within reach.

Dean's attention was pulled away from the bright flames when Castiel leaped over the blaze that now completely separated them. His wings beating furiously; kicking up dust and debris as he landed in front of Dean.

“I’m sorry.” He atoned while snapping Dean’s bonds with ease. “I never meant for this to happen.” He soothed his large palms over the torn skin of Dean’s wrists and instantly healed skin damaged by rough, tight ropes.

“I only wanted to keep you safe.” Castiel confessed as he brushed hands over Dean’s face. All of the bruises and aches disappearing under the trail of gentle touches.

Dean flung his arms around Castiel’s shoulders and tucked his head tightly into the crook of his neck. “Cas, let’s get the hell out of here. We’ll talk about all of this once we...”

The rest of Dean’s sentence was drowned out by a loud, inhuman roar that pierced the air and rattled the warehouse walls.

“The fuck?” Dean shouted; hands over his ears as Castiel peered into the space behind where they stood.

“Dean, I need you to trust me.” Castiel announced and before Dean could respond he was shoved, _hard_ , then Castiel’s heavy wings were shielding, protecting him from the view of what stepped out of the surrounding flames.

Vaguely still Crowley shaped, the creature’s charred skin undulated as if living things were crawling just beneath the surface. Eyes glowed red and firelight flashed off of sharp white fangs and claws. 

“This most assuredly counts as a breach of contract.” Crowley growled as he yanked the silver blade from his shoulder and tossed it to the floor.

Dean tried to get a better look at the ongoing situation but Castiel’s wings shivered and held tight against him, making it hard to see much of anything except black feathers and the tan back of Castiel’s trench coat.

“Look what you’ve done to my favorite suit, Castiel.” Crowley shouted in anger. “Just for that I’m going to slowly tear your human limb from limb while you helplessly watch.”

“As long as I breathe, you won’t touch a single hair on his head.” Castiel threatened as Crowley began to laugh.

“Alright, we’ll do it your way, then.”

Castiel reached behind himself, fingers painfully clamping onto Dean’s wrist, before he was being tossed out of the way, just as Crowley’s body made contact with Castiel. The impact sending both of them tumbling to the very edge of the fiery circle.

As the pair grappled before his eyes Dean could only watch in horror until something shiny caught his attention. Looking to his left he saw that Castiel’s blade was just within his reach. He moved across the floor toward the weapon; relief coursing through him when his fingers wrapped around the unnaturally cool metal.

“Cas!” Dean shouted; sliding the blade to Castiel, where the other man deftly caught the handle and brought it down to pierce Crowley’s flesh.

As another howl ripped through the air, Castiel staggered to his feet; moving in Dean’s direction as the warehouse around them shuddered as fire crawled up the walls and reached the ceiling.

“C’mon, Cas.” Dean held out as hand and just felt fingers brush his before Crowley tackled Castiel from behind.

“NO!” Dean’s lunge toward the fighting figures was halted by an burning beam that fell from the ceiling with a crash.

“Dean, get back!” Castiel shouted above the now audible roar of the fire.

“No, dammit! I’m not leaving here without you!” Dean responded; rushing to the other side of the room to try and reach Castiel.

“Please! Go!” Castiel implored as the fire exploded and completely obscured him from Dean’s view.

“CAS!” Dean screamed as the flames and heat burned his throat and tears streamed from his eyes. He stumbled back; arms covering his face in a weak attempt to protect himself against the fire that continued to render the interior of the building unrecognizable.

#####

_**6 months later** _

“Dean, are you sure you want to do this?” Sam warily asked; watching his brother put the finishing touches on the project that’d recently consumed every waking moment of his life.

_Was he sure?_

Not in the least, but Dean didn’t really have any other choice.

This was what he was meant to do.

He’d known from the moment the idea came to him in a dream filled with black feathers and bright blue eyes, just shy of the first month after...after...well, **_after_**.

“Stop looking at me like that, Sammy.” Dean grumbled as he soldered the final components to the harness’s control panel.

He hated when his little brother looked at him like he was a friggin’ 1-legged puppy.

“Are you absolutely positive this is safe?” Sam continued as Dean strapped the harness over his shoulders and locked it across his sternum..

“If you’re just gonna nag me to death, get off my roof.” Dean answered and with a single press of the button at the center of his chest, huge metal wings unfolded from the pack on his back.

The shiny material a familiar color of blue that Dean would only ever get to see now whenever the man-made appendages stretched to either side of his body.

When Dean had first revealed his intentions to Sam, the younger Winchester had immediately contacted Dr. Barnes. Relaying the troubling information to the psychologist because he was worried the plan was an elaborate suicidal ideation, instead of what it really was.

_Dean’s newfound purpose in life._

Dean glanced over the side of the building then scanned the deepening hues of the sun as it set against the horizon.

Castiel had loved this city and Dean had loved Castiel.

And even though he was now gone, the city still needed protection.

Which was what Dean intended to do his best to provide.


End file.
